The Blogging Toolkit: Essential Blogging Tools I Use & Recommend!
Updated: Dec 7, 2023
What tools are popular to create or run a blog online?
Which tool is used for blogging?
Hi, Simon Zaku here, and today I want to show you the social media and blogging tools that I use to run this very blog, website, and all my client's social media accounts today.
If you follow my blog, you know I make anywhere around four to five figures from this blog monthly.
One of the most frequent questions I get about blogging is what tools I use to run my blog.
This list contains social media and blogging tools that I use, resources I trust, and recommendations for entrepreneurs, marketers, startups, and agencies.
The Blogging Toolkit: Essential Blogging Tools I Use & Recommend
What tools do you need for blogging?
The next blogging tool is Namecheap. Namecheap is one of the oldest domain hosting platforms on the Internet today. It has been around since 2000 and it is the one.
Namecheap is my go-to hosting platform for my domains every single time.
One thing I love about Namecheap is it is inexpensive, and provides great services like customer support, system upgrades, and more.
Whenever I want to get a website running, I get my domain from Namecheap and then I direct it to whichever hosting platform I use (Wix, WordPress).
For instance, I make use of Wix for my hosting. So what I do is I get my domain from Namecheap and link it to my hosting on Wix.
The domains on Namechip are quite cheaper than most domain hosting providers, like wix.com domains, or say GoDaddy or all of that.
My next go-to hosting service provider is Hostinger. Hostinger offers one of the best domain hosting web building, and website building platforms on the Internet.
Hostinger has over 21,358 reviews on Trustcorp with an average of 4.6.
Hostinger offers the business plan which goes from $3.49 a month.
We have the premium which gives you everything you need to create your website and then it goes for $2.49 per month.
The cloud startup plan goes for $8.99 per month and allows users to enjoy optimized performance and dedicated website hosting resources.
One thing I love about Hostinger is that it offers a 30 30-day money-back money back guarantee and 24/7 customer support. That is priority support.
The next best hosting platform is the EUK host. Now the EUK host is trusted by over 35,000 customers and offers fast and reliable managed web hosting ServiceNow services. It also offers domain name registrations and servers with 24/7 live support now.
One amazing thing is they also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee and then eUKhost is guaranteed to be reliable for websites, applications, or even servers.
They offer 24/7 world-class support and have a 4.9 rating or reviews on trust pilots and google.com.
The different services offered by Euk hosts are CPANET Web Hosting, Windows Web Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Cloud Servers, WordPress Reseller, and Business Web Hosting.
The next essential blogging tool is Shopify.
You might be wondering why I'm adding Shopify as a blogging resource but the reason is that some bloggers and content creators make money selling digital products.
Products like ebooks, courses or memberships.
How does this work?
As a Blogger or content creator, you build an audience then you can pitch or sell them certain products that may or may not be directly related to your website.
Here’s what I mean;
For example, you could run a food or fashion blog and sell different fashion books or magazines.
You can use Shopify to host all of your products and link them from your blog.
If your web hosting provider offers product selling then you may not need Shopify for your blog.
I decided to add this because it is also important.
After all, you can also run a blog from your Shopify.
Shopify is a tool that I use and recommend for my stores and brand.
Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting services on the Internet today powering over 2 million websites.
HostGator offers one of the best hosting and domain services I have seen on the Internet.
Bluehost is very powerful, and fast and offers different hosting services like online stores, WordPress hosting, design services, etc.
You can build different stores for your brand or your website using the powerful store tools by Bluehost.
The enhanced Woocommerce feature is available to users and then you can do SEO as well.
We have WordPress hosting which starts at $2.95 per month and comes with a free domain when you get it for a year with automatic WordPress updates as well.
You have a CDN included and you can also get Bluehost design services which include full website design, search engine optimization, website migration, and more.
For the online stores, it starts at $6.75 per month, WordPress $2.95 per month and you can contact Bluehost for the design services pricing.
I recommend Bluehost for beginner bloggers, and expert bloggers because it offers one of the best hosting services, tools, and domain features.
The next blogging tool on my list is the WP1ClickLogin. This tool is new and I love it.
Did you know that you can log into any of your WordPress sites using just a click?
Probably not!
What this means is you don't need to remember any passwords at all. You don't need to write them down or spend seconds thinking about your passwords during login all the time.
This is especially more useful for people with numerous WordPress sites.
What this does is it helps you save all of your WordPress passwords so you can just log in using a unique link.
How does this work?
Simply install the WP1ClickLogin on your WordPress dashboard and after that, you can easily save all of your logins.
To log in, all you need to do is put in your email address and then a unique login link will be sent directly to your e-mail inbox after clicking that you get to your WordPress dashboard without having to type in your password.
This works if you forget your password too.
Buffer is a social media management tool that lets users schedule, create, design, and plan social media content seamlessly. Even with just the mobile application.
I've been using a buffer since day one and I still use it today.
It's my easy go-to social media management tool for most of my social media automation tasks. Especially LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
And now, I use it for my Pinterest scheduling as well.
I love how simple Buffer is. If you hate sophisticated analytics but love something simple but cool dashboards then the buffer is the right one for you.
I pay $15 monthly for Buffer. Worth it for me.
You can use Buffer’s free plan (which is okay) but you can upgrade to a paid plan if you need more features like the number of accounts you can follow/unfollow etc.
Pinterest is one of the easiest ways to generate good traffic from social platforms. It requires consistent quality content. And that's why I use Tailwind.
Tailwind is also a service that allows users to schedule, curate, and manage Pinterest pins with ease.
It is a Pinterest scheduling and management application that's the best in the game.
It's what I use presently.
Hostgator is a web hosting company that lets internet users create, design, and manage websites.
You can install WordPress or Wix in your HostGator account easily in just a few steps.
For me, it is one of the best hosting companies in the world. I've used HostGator for more than 6 years now without any serious or unresolved issues.
Why do I love Hostgator even more?
It's excellent customer support service - very quick and provides 24-hour live chat support.
I've powered dozens of websites and domains on HostGator over the years and highly recommend it.
SmarterQueue - Social Media Scheduler
SmarterQueue is a social media management and automation tool.
Most bloggers use these tools to load “share queues” with their blog content (and other people’s content) and to pre-schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
What I love about SmarterQueue is its evergreen automation feature.
You get to schedule your blog posts once and SmarterQueue will continually repost them on your social media channels without you having to do it.
Pretty cool and recommended!
Crowdfire - Social Media Scheduling and Analytics
Crowdfire is a social media app that takes care of everything social. It doesn't only help you manage and grow your social media following but also recommends targeted content for you.
When you sign up for Crowdfire, you get to select your category/niche, this way, you'll only see content that matches your niche.
Crowdfire is also free but also has other paid plans.
You can stick with the free plan except you want to do more like schedule more posts daily, add more social media accounts, and many more.
Highly recommended app for bloggers, bloggers, and business owners.
Canva - Free Graphic Design Tool
Canva is undoubtedly the best social media graphics tool for me. I've been using this tool for more than 5 years now and I love it.
Canva is easy and I design all of the graphics you see on this blog using Canva (in minutes).
It is super easy to use and comes with a lot of free graphics templates to use. So you can easily go through and work with anyone you like.
There are templates for blogs, social profiles, flyers, etc.
All my social media & blog graphics are designed by me in Canva.
Agorapulse - Social Media Scheduler
AgoraPulse covers everything you could need for social media marketing, monitoring, and management. I am focused on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram currently.
I love everything about Agora Pulse except for the fact that I feel it's a little bit clustered. I mean too many things on one dashboard.
This is from my point of view as a lot of people prefer tools that provide sophisticated analytics, features, and more.
I prefer tools that are as simple as possible.
Thus if you want to manage your social media accounts with every feature possible on one dashboard then Agora Pulse is for you.
As mentioned previously, AgoraPulse is affordable for small businesses.
It costs as little as $19 a month for a small business that wants to manage one Facebook Page and Twitter account.
This pricing can change depending on the AgoraPulse plan you choose.
AgoraPulse has a free trial option so individuals can try out this system before purchasing a plan.
The trial lasts 15 days and allows you to try all the features so individuals get a true feel.
Do you want to be able to create marketing videos, whiteboard sales videos, switch page videos, product videos, and even tutorial videos for your blogs?
The AIVideoSuite is an amazing AI-powered video maker that helps you write, record, and generate high-converting videos in any niche.
I love this video tool because it has a very fast script-generating feature. It is also powered by GPT-4.
This software allows you to generate only reels, videos, business ads, informational videos, tutorial videos, explainer videos, and lots more.
If you are into startup blogging then you probably create a lot of videos and with recent email marketing statistics, we can see that videos are effective in generating leads and customers.
When you embed a video in your blog posts, it is more likely to rank higher in search engines.
Thus, the AIVideoSuite is a powerful tool I recommend to content creators and bloggers.
This is also perfect for people who aren’t comfortable showing their faces on camera.
The next blogging tool that I recommend is the Vidalta Canva Edition.
If you are looking to create promotional social media videos for businesses or startups, the Vidalta Canva Edition is for you.
The Vidalta template is a tool that provides users with over 240 Canva Edition video templates to help you create high-catching social media promotional videos that increase leads and customers.
This video tool provides numerous templates in different categories like travel, fashion, business, commercial, food, branding, events, typography, and more.
Also, with this tool you can export to any format that you want and you can pick from over 200 and 440 templates.
If you are looking for great templates that are proven to be high-converting for your blog articles, your blog posts or your websites, then you can use the Vidalta Canva Edition templates.
Tiddly - Link Sharer
Tiddly helps drive targeted traffic to your website every time you share something online.
It's like getting some credit for sharing or tweeting someone's content.
With Tiddly Link you can add your own branded call-to-action to just about any piece of content that exists online.
Quuu Promote - Premium Content Marketing Platform
Quuu is a content-curation social platform that focuses on saving time by hand-curating content in over 500 interest categories.
On the other hand, Quuu Promote is a premium content marketing platform that allows users to boost their links, articles, or posts.
With this social media content curation tool, I've been able to generate 1000s of traffic from social media. And I mostly use this for my clients as well.
And at the same time, get good content to share with your audience.
Evernote - Digital Notes Application
Seriously, I don't know where I'd be in my business without Evernote. I use it for everything. I use Evernote for my notes and I take it with me anywhere.
I use Evernote when I write blog posts, email content, webinar notes, client takeaways, and many more.
One thing I love about Evernote is that it is accessible on all devices.
Thus after creating your free account, you can access your notes on any device at any time.
IFTTT - Systems and Management App
This is probably one of the most underrated tools that I use for my blogs, clients, and businesses.
It (IFTTT) is a free tool to get all your apps and devices to talk to each other. IFTTT connects different applications, tools, and software to work seamlessly in unique ways.
Wix - Website and Domain Services
Wix is probably the easiest website management platform as it has a sleek interface that allows users to navigate, edit, and manage their wites either on Desktop or mobile.
This very website and blog is currently running on Wix and I love it.
Wix is very easy to use and user-friendly. This is the best platform to use especially if you are just starting online as a beginner.
That's the end of my list.
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Which of these social media or blogging tools have you tried?
Which of these will you be trying?
Let me know your own tools recommendation in the comments section below :)
See you in the group, my friend.
Simon Taki Zaku
Owner: https://simonzaku.com/
CEO: SimonWrites Agency.
